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Farmers have driven tractors into Whitehall for a protest on inheritance tax on Budget day, despite a ban on the agricultural machinery by the Met Police.
The demonstration, organisers say, is the latest act of protest against measures introduced by Rachel Reeves last year to apply an inheritance tax of 20 per cent to agricultural property valued over £1m.
And it comes on the day the chancellor is preparing to deliver her second Budget, against a backdrop of sluggish economic productivity and expected tax rises.
By 9.30am, more than a dozen tractors was parked outside Parliament, while more were seen arriving in the area, some with signs showing messages like “fools vote Labour” and “beep if you eat!”.
One farmer was dressed as Father Christmas, his tractor carrying a large spruce tree and bearing a sign that read: “Farmer Christmas – the naughty list: Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, David Lammy, Diane Abbott, Angela Rayner & the BBC.”
They repeatedly sounded the tractor horns while police stood watching, with rush-hour traffic brought to a standstill.
The gathering of agricultural machinery comes despite the Met Police placing restrictions on them; only allowing them to remain in Richmond Terrace.
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It has been reported that between 1,500 to 2,000 tractors are arriving in London (Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire)
A force spokesperson said: “While people will still be able to demonstrate, conditions have been put in place to prevent protesters from bringing vehicles, including tractors or other agricultural vehicles to the protest.
“This decision was taken due to the serious disruption they may cause to the local area, including businesses, emergency services and Londoners going about their day.”
Protest organiser Dan Willis, a farmer from Berkshire, accused the police of throwing fuel on a “tinderbox situation”, also claiming it was “impossible at this stage to stop farmers from coming”.
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A tractor arrives for the protest by farmers in Whitehall ahead of Rachel Reeves’ Budget statement (Harriet Tolson/PA) (PA Wire)
The 50-year-old told The Telegraph: “The Metropolitan Police who have been extremely supportive all the way through have obviously now received orders from further up for us not to have a static demonstration on Whitehall. Instead they have offered us a small strip of land and no tractors are allowed.
“This is a highly emotive issue. We have farmers, most of whom left [their homes] yesterday, travelling across the country, and they are going to make their way to London and unfortunately they have now put us in an impossible position.”
The Telegraph reported that between 1,500 and 2,000 tractors were heading to London for the protest.
David Gunn, an arable farmer and agricultural contractor from near Sevenoaks in Kent, said: “Inheritance tax is one reason [I am protesting], it’s going to cripple the farmers, the small family farmers.
“There’s all the other taxes they’ve been putting on us, and the prices we get for our produce and what it costs in the shop, we don’t make any money. Then there’s food security, farmers are going out of business.”
Farmer Mark Watler from Grantham, Lincolnshire, said: “The inheritance tax is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re not doing it for the money, it’s a passion. We just want a fair deal.”
